"And if I pave my streets with good times, will the mountain keep on giving?"

3/13/08

It's time consuming to have cancer!

I've found that it is not so easy to have cancer and be a mother of 3 young children...but doesn't everyone already know that? I truly can't fathom what it will be like when I actually don't feel well, because I can barely fit it all in and I am feeling as great as ever. I guess I just don't have time to feel badly, so I won't (ha ha). I should say that I am doing this totally Pam-style, which is making it fun for me (me being Pam, go figure), but is adding to the time-consuming nature of this cancer. Here is what is making this so difficult:

I'm not skipping exercise, no matter what...and I love that, have wanted to get back to that, but it is so easy to skip exercise when the kids need something and the husband is tired from work.

I'm cooking for a hundred people. Not really, but it feels like it because I'm making fancy special food for fancy special me, and plus I get the pleasure of making food for the other 4 people in my entourage. For me, I'm juicing in the mornings and making food from my new favorite book Healing Gourmet Eat to Fight Cancer). Luckily I have found some people to whom I can pass on some of my creations, even if I didn't follow the recipe and crushed up 2 horrifically hot peppers as a substitution. 2 Nancys were kind enough to take some of this fire soup off my hands! I am incredibly grateful because I didn't feel like eating that fire soup to the exclusion of all other things for the next 5 days. I have some questionable (I haven't tasted it yet) Triple Mushroom Soup here now, any takers?

I'm using the sauna in my house. I laughed at this sauna for a whole year - who puts a giant sauna in a house? But then I read it might be good for cleansing and cancer and blah blah blah I didn't even finish reading I just jumped in! But when do I have a half hour to take a sauna? Who am I kidding?

I borrowed a mini trampoline from Sybil and am trying rebounding. It's unbelievably fun. I can thank Kendra for this tip.

I'm making sure I get the proper amount of sleep. Duh. I've always been the biggest sleeper in the universe, so this isn't changing things.

People keep dropping off gifts! I need to call, email, thank, talk to them, bless their souls. My most recent thank yous are to my 3-day team for a gigantic gift card, my book club that I abandoned who brought over a beautiful fancy gift basket of pampering materials, and Patty, Kathy, and Kathy who brought over a Vera Bradley Backpack full of a hospital survival materials like chocolate and magazines and scented lotion!

I need to send thank yous to everyone who has supported my 3-day walk! I'm over $3,000 now!

I've had appointments galore...I met with the oncologist today, I have a pre-chemo heart test tomorrow, I've been to the dermatologist, the dentist - everything I need to do before I start chemo.

I've been taking nature walks with all the kids and the dog in all my spare time.

So those are my cancer things. Can you see why it is time consuming? Don't worry, though. I'm only doing these things because they are fun, rewarding, and I've always wanted to do most of them (not the appointments or all the special attention). I suppose another great thing about a cancer diagnosis is that it gives you permission to do things for yourself, even if you do have 3 small children. I haven't always been great at that, but I am certainly doing a good job of that right now!

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Here's me

With my littlest...July 25, 2009

About Pam

I'm a 36-year old wife, sister and mother of 3. I started this blog after I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma on 2/18/08...Breast Cancer. It helped me immensely as I went through a year of diagnosis, surgeries, chemotherapy, and recovery.

It was a great place for me to connect with people and share my story. I hope you enjoy it.

Don't want to read the whole blog, but want to know the story? Read these.